Gates unimaginative, Google a cheat: Jobs

Two weeks after his death and two days before the release of his authorised biography, glimpses into the life of Apple's mercurial co-founder Steve Jobs spread like wildfire as excerpts from the book went viral. The insights included his vendetta against Google, his criticism of Bill Gates and the impact of his adoption on his life.

Two weeks after his death and two days before the release of his authorised biography, glimpses into the life of Apple's mercurial co-founder Steve Jobs spread like wildfire as excerpts from the book went viral.

The insights included his vendetta against Google, his criticism of Bill Gates and the impact of his adoption on his life.

Steve Jobs hits bookstands on Monday but some media outlets obtained copies and flooded the net with excerpts late Friday.

"I'm going to destroy Android because it's a stolen product," went the excerpt on Google. "I'm willing to go thermonuclear war on this."

Walter Isaacson's work also contains an unflattering assessment of the Microsoft co-founder. "Bill (Gates) is unimaginative and has never invented anything, which is why... he's more comfortable now in philanthropy than technology. He just ripped off other people's ideas," Jobs said about his rival.

On US President Barack Obama, he said: "He is reluctant to offend people. That's not a problem I ever had." The book also touches on Jobs' trip to India in search of spirituality, the extreme diets and primal scream therapy he followed and his fling with singer-songwriter Joan Baez.

Jobs called Isaacson after he was first diagnosed with cancer in 2003, and gave him 40 interviews subsequently. "I want my kids to know me," the famously private CEO told the author.